COMMENT:Again the striver is speaking excellent words. But the excellence of his words might be lost on the striver himself.

cal'-aatman might be a turning word in this verse. The dictionary gives cal'-aatman as "fickle-minded" -- cala means "moving, unsteady," and aatman means "self, nature," or at the end of a compound "-minded." In 8.11, where Nanda uses the word, I translated cal'-aatman as "a man out of balance in himself." Clearly in that verse and in today's verse cal'-aatman is being used by the speaker to point to a fault not a virtue.

There is such a fault, however, as being stubborn. And there is such a thing as being loyal to a fault.

Was Ashvaghosha aware of this side of the equation or not? Was any irony intended?

Is Ashvaghosha suggesting that being cal'-aatman, or quick to change one's mind, is necessarily a bad thing? Or might he secretly be suggesting that flexibility of thought is a good thing, a virtue that a dogged striver am prone to lack?

To be honest this reader, for one, is not sure. And maybe that was Ashvaghosha's real intention -- to prod the reader who easily understands the overt meaning of the words to read again and dig deeper.

Digging not too far below the surface, the 4th line of today's verse can be understood as an expression of the truth in its own right: na hi dharme 'bhiratir vidhiiyateJoy in dharma is not allotted.

And the point might be that those who expect, consciously or unconsciously, to get their share are liable to be disappointed.

In no sutra is this point expressed better than the one quoted by Dogen in Shobogenzo chap. 87, Serving Buddhas -- the content of which is a great antidote to any sense that one has failed to receive one's just rewards for services rendered to buddha-ancestors.

EH Johnston:For delight in the Law does not fall to the man of unstable nature, whose thoughts are not fixed on peace of mind and on hearing, mastering, memorizing, and inwardly digesting the supreme truth.

Linda Covill:For joy in dharma is not vouchsafed to a volatile man whose thoughts are not fastened to mental peace, nor to hearing, absorbing, retaining and understanding the supreme truth.